For one railway staff member, meeting the Queen was a moment that left him in disbelief.

Alan Neville, customer and stakeholder engagement manager at Greater Anglia, met Queen Elizabeth II at Ely rail station in 2009 as part of a royal visit.

Writing in his blog, Alan said: “When I was at Ely, when I was standing right next to her, I asked myself: ‘Am I really standing right next to the monarch, to the Queen? The person who is on all our stamps and banknotes?’

“I really had to pinch myself.”

Alan was welcoming Her Late Majesty to Ely while he was managing the city’s rail station.

At the time, he ordered a fresh coat of paint for the station sign in honour of the monarch, greeted her off the train and accompanied her to a waiting car.

“I bowed (and) I said: ‘Good morning, Your Majesty - welcome to Ely Station,’ Alan recalled.

Ely Standard: Queen Elizabeth II visited Ely Cathedral during her time in the city in 2009.Queen Elizabeth II visited Ely Cathedral during her time in the city in 2009. (Image: Sean Dempsey/PA Archive/PA Images)

“She was on her own this time, with her lady in waiting; she just smiled and said ‘good morning’ and that was it.

“I walked with her to her car. There was less interaction than on the first occasion, but I was thrilled that we able to get photographs this time.”

In November 2009, the Queen was greeted by thousands of onlookers as she and the Duke of Edinburgh visited Ely Cathedral.

The visit was to mark 900 years of the Diocese of Ely.

Before ‘that’ Ely encounter, Alan accompanied the Queen and Prince Philip on a return trip between King’s Lynn and London King’s Cross, which he managed at the time, in 2005.

Ely Standard: The Queen also visited King's Lynn, when Alan Neville accompanied the late monarch by rail. Pictured: The Queen in King's Lynn in 2011.The Queen also visited King's Lynn, when Alan Neville accompanied the late monarch by rail. Pictured: The Queen in King's Lynn in 2011. (Image: Ian Burt)

The royal couple were attending a Holocaust Memorial Day event in the capital.

After a conversation on the weather, Alan welcomed the Queen and Prince Philip to King’s Cross before travelling back with them to Norfolk.

“At the end of that I was absolutely pooped,” Alan said.

“I remember calling my partner and saying: ‘I need to tell you who I’ve met today because I’d been sworn to secrecy before that’.”

Alan described the late monarch as “a really kind, lovely, wonderful person.

“This absolutely was, for me, the greatest honour of all.”